A Whale of a Tale - Day 5

Today was the first day Alison and I worked in Hawaii. We have big plans for our travel for the rest of 2022. We both work for companies that are flexible with our time off, but if we took this entire week off we would take more time off than we wanted. So we decided to work remotely. Fortunately, we both work from companies where that is an option. It really wasn't bad at all. We set our alarm for 4:30am and we were both working a little after 5:00am. With the time change, most of our coworkers were also starting their days. We took a break a little later in the morning to make breakfast. We had crepes and eggs and bacon. We took another break around noon to make lunch. We made an amazing chicken Cobb salad. It was so refreshing. 

With the time difference, we were both able to wrap up work a little afternoon. We changed into swimsuits and we headed to the pool. We were going to spend an hour at the pool and then drive to Kona to go night diving. However, just as we had claimed some pool chairs, I received a call from the Scuba shop. Due to high surf, they had to cancel the night dive. I was really disappointed. I was really looking forward to night diving and hopefully seeing some manta rays. 

Since we didn’t have to go to Kona we pivoted and drove to Keokea Beach Park. This is a small native beach about an hour from our hotel. The topography of this beach is interesting because there are big cliffs that drop right into the ocean. Blake and Debbie recommended this beach so we decided to check it out. To get there we drove through some areas of the island we haven’t visited yet. It was a nice drive. That part of the island is much more lush and green than the areas we have visited so far. 

Right, when we arrived it started to rain. That really made me sad. First, diving was canceled and then we drove for an hour only to end up at a rainy beach. It sure seemed like today was not going to be our day. 

We could see blue skies in the distance so we decided to wait it out. Within minutes the rain has passed. We found a nice spot to set up our chairs (these chairs keep coming in clutch) and enjoy the ocean. Alison read her book while I flew my drone. This was a really beautiful beach. I even spotted a rainbow nearby. Things were looking up.

Not a bad view

While we were sitting at this beach we saw lots of birds. Ever since our safari, we are on the lookout for wildlife and birds. 

Saffron Finch

Yellow-billed cardinal

As I was flying my drone I was on the lookout for whales. However, sitting so far back from the open ocean, the area in front of us was a protected cove, I felt like it was unlikely I would see whales. I wanted to go look for whales. I threw a quick study on it and using Google I was able to determine that one of the best places to see whales was at Kapa’a Beach Park. It was only ~20 minutes away. I talked it over with Alison and we decided to relocate to Kapa'a Beach Park. 

On our way to Kapa'a, we made a brief stop in Kapaau. Here there is a statue commemorating the birthplace of King Kamehameha. This statue was commissioned in 1878. Completed in Italy and bronzed in Paris, the statue was on its way to Hawaii from Europe when the ship sank. A replica was made, but, the original one was salvaged. This is the original statue. It’s a fitting dedication for the king who unified the Hawaiian Islands. It was painted by local artists in traditional Hawaiian colors and is a beautiful statue. 

After our brief stop, it was onto Kapa'a. We are so glad we decided to visit a new beach park. As we were driving down the road into Kapa’a park we could see whale spouts in the distance. We met a real nice fellow from New York who had moved to Hawaii. He pointed out the whales and struck up a conversation. He would have even lent us his binoculars if we didn't have our own pair. We set up our beach chairs and immediately saw the whales in the distance. I got my drone up in the air and flew out to the whales. They were about 2,000 feet out from us. Seeing the whales from the air made me giddy. I could see their entire bodies under the surface it was unreal. There was a baby whale, a momma whale, and another large whale all in the same location. I followed them for about 20 minutes. Alison was watching them with her binoculars from the shore. They came up and dove down 3-4 times while I was following them. The whole experience was spectacular. 

After the last dive, my drone showed it only had enough battery to make it back to shore. By now I had followed the whales out to sea and I was ~4,500 feet away. I brought the drone toward shore as quickly as possible, but I soon realized I wasn’t going to make it back. The battery was dying too quickly. I got within 2,000 feet when a warning started flashing - critical battery. At this point, the drone automatically started to try to land. The big problem was it was still overwater. I fought the auto-landing feature and managed to get it over the shoreline, but I had no choice but to crash land in a pile of volcanic rocks. 

Once I got the drone landed on solid ground, the next step was retrieving it. I jumped up and began moving quickly toward my drone. I thought I told Alison I would be right back, but if I did, she didn’t hear me. Time was of the essence. As long as it had some battery I could see the location of the drone on my phone. I ran up a trail along the shoreline for about 1,500 feet. When I got close to the drone my phone reconnected and I could see a picture of some rocks -  not particularly helpful, but I still felt it was a good sign. Between the GPS coordinates and what I remembered from the crash landing I was able to locate the drone fairly easily. Despite the rough landing, the drone was really no worse for wear. One of the propellers was a little banged up, but those are meant to be replaced periodically anyway. I was ecstatic to have it back. 

The location where my drone crash-landed

A homeless camp I ran through to find my drone

Once I got back to Alison, she was really not happy that I ran off and left her. She gave me a piece of her mind, but then she was good (she also assured me if I had come back without a drone she would have been nothing but empathetic because she knew I would be sad). We sat and watched for whales a while longer. There were some in the distance but none as close as the pod we saw first. 

Eventually, we were hungry. We drove to a nearby L&Ls for some Hawaiian BBQ. It hit the spot. I had the teriyaki combo with chicken, beef, and pork. It was so good. I especially loved the macaroni salad. 

Gold dust day gecko

After dinner, we headed back to Kapa’a beach to watch the sunset. Our friend from New York, John, was there so we set up near him. We occasionally saw distant whales. We could also see Maui in the distance. John pointed out a telescope on top of one of the peaks. You could see the telescope clearly with the binoculars. John is a physicist and told us about some of the deep space discoveries that have been made using that telescope. It was a brilliant sunset tonight. As the sun was nearly setting John taught us about the green flash. When the conditions are right, a distinct green spot is briefly visible above the upper rim of the Sun's disk; the green appearance usually lasts for no more than two seconds. The temperature in Hawaii makes ideal conditions for this green flash. Using her binoculars Alison was able to see it. Super random and super cool. 

Maui in the distance

Once the sun had set we headed back to our hotel. While at one point it seemed like this might be one of our least favorite days in Hawaii it turned out to be one of our favorites. Sometimes not having a plan leads you on an unexpected adventure.